metallica73

Been away at a wedding but in the meantime this arrived 2 days ago.

Like I said before on this thread, I enjoy noodling through ebay bulk lot listings looking for potential numismatic bargains and i've never seen so many blatent fakes Take the 1,2 & 5 Sov in this lot... 21 bids https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265240300826 Seller even says they are restrikes/facsimilie in the description, but whats the odds these 3 coins find themselves being resold on Ebay?

If you are buying stamps for a business and you get caught then the fines aren't worth it.... let alone angry customers having to pay the fee I think a lot of sellers get around it by selling as 'numismatic' only. After all if you are selling unfranked stamps as numismatic, its then on the buyer what they do with them. This guy took it to a whole other level https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/washed-sold-used-stamps-ebay-17159435

Stamps from 1911 were still valid for postage until 1972. Though Victorian stamps were invalidated 1924, and Edward VII in 1930 so it's not without precedent that previous monarchs stamps became worthless. Definitely one of the risks to take into consideration.

I think ''currently'' there are enough buyers of 10% below face value stamps but yes, you may have to work harder at liquidating any stamps you have back into cash compared to gold certainly. I wouldn't put big money into this... but was just thinking aloud how to diversify into things other than my gold/silver/crypto stacks.

Anyone thought about doing or already does this? Just 7 years ago 10,000 x 1st class stamps would cost £4,600 and today would be worth £8,500. You can buy stamps legitimately at around 8% below face value, and would probably have to sell them 10-12% below face when liquidating them. Anyone see any potentilal downsides? Royal Mail are legally oblidged to accept any decimal stamp as payment for postage so NVI stamps with just 1st class on are always worth face. The biggest I see is the lack of avenues to sell them, no guarantee Ebay is still allowing small fry to sell on their platform in 10 yrs the way its going. I guess the other is stamps are now less frequently used - instead people are electronically buying postage.

I have an addiction for scouring ebay junk lots for numismatic bargains and i've noticed a lot of these fakes are making their way into these and bumping up the price realised of those too.

They are all real I think the seller listed in bullion catergory, would have been better off lsiting in florins.

I hate sellers that list these in legit categories... at least put it in the coin > novelty section.

Thanks Lawrence. I've been in the silver game for 10 years now and I think my reasons for buying coins has changed 3 times in that decade I no longer see it as a way to make a quick profit but as a long term hedge against inflation - money I put into any metals/coins i'm looking to preserve their value over time. But it's interesting to me to see the changes in fads over that time, for a good 75% of that time the Lunar 2 series was seen as a must have collection but it definitely has lost some value. Just trying to pick some winners that can hold their numismatic value - e.g do we see the premiums on the rwanda series or the queens beasts maintaining itself over the years.

Thoughts on this? Is it even possible to think ahead with regards to numismatic premiums. A few of the coins I hold have gone in different directions value wise.... eg. 2012 1oz Lunar Series II Dragon - I picked this up for £40 at the time with a big premium and can remember a couple of years later they were still selling for £60 a pop, in 2021 they are now selling closer to my purchase price IF lucky! 2003 & 2014 Mexican Libertads, picked up around £18-20 and now going for DOUBLE that. 2017 plain edge Sov - paid £525, now selling £750-850 2012 Rwanda Rhino - cost £35... now selling for £80 I guess my question is, do these series all have a 'sweet' spot for maximising returns? Looks like interest in the Aussie Lunar Series 2 has faded but a 75% hit ratio is pretty good.

Depends on who you sell to, if its a refinery, or a we buy gold/silver place then you will be lucky to get spot. You can get the majority of that premium back when re-selling to individuals but in the latter case it is harder to liquidate bigger amounts at once.

I haven't bought silver for at least 2 years now as I got deep into crypto (what am I still doing on a silver forum aha!) but even before that i'd switched into gold because of the milk spotting issues. The thought of paying that huge premium for the 1 Kg silver QB completer and losing it all due to spotting a few years later grrrr.. I'm getting the urge to buy again though, I think it would have to be junk silver at spot and below for me now.